Sales Not the Only Thing Dragging for Coke's Dasani

The New York Times is reporting
that sales of Coke's Dasani bottled water are down 19 percent in North
America compared to the same time period last year. Sales of multipacks
fell even more.

Despite spending heavily in North America on marketing to
resuscitate Dasani and other beverage lines, the bottling giant is
running up against shifting public opinion about bottled water.

"Coke is 'disappointed' in the trend, but it has only itself to
blame," said Kelle Louaillier, Executive Director of Corporate
Accountability International. "The corporation has stubbornly refused
to answer to consumer concerns about Dasani - now people are just
getting their water elsewhere...namely from the tap."

A Harris Poll released last week found that close to one in three
Americans switched from bottled to tap water in the last year. Thanks
to public education campaigns like Corporate Accountability
International's Think Outside the Bottle, a growing number of people
are now aware that Dasani comes from the same source as the tap.

And though the campaign has compelled the other two leading bottlers
to label the source of their bottled water brands, Coke continues to
drag its feet.

"Coke has built a market for Dasani by marketing its product as
somehow better than the tap," said Louaillier. "If this dip in sales
doesn't convince Coke that misleading marketing is bad for business, I
don't know what will."

In the last three years, tens of thousands of people have called on
Coke CEO Muhtar Kent to label the source of Dasani. Corporate
Accountability International is planning to keep up the pressure on the
corporation until it comes clean.